Blog

So this afternoon I headed to the YMCA in Puyallup to get a workout in. When I weighed myself this morning, I FINALLY saw the number 289.5 (i.e. LESS than 290) on the scale. The last time I was at this weight was July of 2008 just before the Ocean Shores Sprint Triathlon. Any dip below this will be uncharted territory that I haven’t seen in years. At this weight, I’ve now lost 66.5 pounds since May. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been getting in the gym 2 – 4 times a week and mostly running. I’m finally starting to get my running legs back. Meaning that I’m actually starting to ENJOY running again. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve enjoyed running. Like 20 years. I still don’t have the endurance that I used to have, nor the speed, but I don’t hurt as much after a run as I have in the past.

I’ve been using the Runervals 1.0 and 2.0 workouts to keep my treadmill running interesting. But the thing I don’t like about the runervals workouts is that you just never get a sense of “How long could I really go at this pace?” Because they’re interval workouts, you have a period of exertion followed by a period of rest, repeat. GREAT workouts no doubt, but they just don’t give you a sense of what you could do if you just started to run. So today, my goal was to do a 5K (3.1 Mile) Time trial on the treadmill. Now I had done this a couple times in 2008 while training for the Triathlon. The first time I did it, it was just under 40 minutes. The last recorded time I could find back in my blogs was 37:42. Going in today, I was shooting for under 35:00. That’s right, I’m getting a little cocky about my running. I know the interval training I’ve been doing has been making me a stronger runner and even though I’ve only been working out a couple months, I’m already able to do more than I was doing prior to the triathlon last year.

So I started walking at 3.5 MPH for the first .05 – .07 (don’t really remember) miles and then kicked it up to 6.0MPH. The first mile clicked in at 11:00 flat. So I kicked the treadmill up to 6.1 for the remainder of the run. I don’t know exactly what the 5K was done in . . . but it was UNDER 32:00 . . . 31:44 . . . I hit the lap button on my Garmin to keep track of it, so when I download the data, I’ll know for sure. But yes, UNDER 32:00 a full FIVE PLUS minutes faster than the fastest 5K I ran last year (that I tracked). AWESOME! The run is by far my weakest event in the tri . . . so I’m focusing heavily on it over the winter. Now that the 5K was out of the way, I remembered that Carl had said this morning he did 5 miles on the treadmill, so I said to myself . . . Me too . . . I walked from 3.1 miles to 3.5 miles, then ran an easy 5.5 MPH jog to 3.75 miles, then walked to 4 miles, then ran at 6.0 MPH to 4.75 miles and walked from 4.75 to 5.0 miles. I did the 5 miles in 56 minutes 42 seconds (I know THIS because I took a picture of the treadmill with my iPhone). Under an hour averaging 5.3 MPH over the whole thing. I think that’s pretty good! Also, the calorie counter on the treadmill read 996.2 calories. But I put in my weight and age late, so I’m sure I burned over 1,000 calories by the treamill’s count.

I’m feeling REALLY good that I’ll be able to do the Olympic distance triathlon in July. (.9 Miles Swim, 25 mile Bike and 6.2 mile Run) My uber-stretch goal is to do the half iron distance (70.3) trialthlon (1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile Run). Now I’ve never run more than 8 miles in my life, so this would be a HUGE accomplishment. But I think I’m on track with my weight . . . and if I can kick my training up another notch, I think I can get there. So stay tuned . . .